The best Colorado breweries in 2017 tapped into the hottest trends in craft beer — big-flavor stouts and hazy hop-forward India pale ales — to rank at the top for the state’s craft beer fans.

To find the best beer and best breweries of the year, The Denver Post polled dozens of brewers and industry experts for its 7th annual Beer in Review survey. And this year, we added a reader favorite in an online poll that garnered more than 1,700 votes.

The competition is stiff in Colorado with approximately 340 breweries in the state, but clear favorites among the pros and readers emerged. Here’s a look at the year in beer for 2017:

Bierstadt Lagerhaus is the Colorado beer of the year according to our reader’s poll. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

Best Colorado beer: Bierstadt Lagerhaus Slow Pour Pils

For the second straight year, the crisp, clear and delicious Slow Pour Pils from Bierstadt Lagerhaus wins Colorado beer of the year. It’s quite a feat for a brewery that opened less than two years ago, but the care and attention — 30 hours to brew this one — that brewmasters Bill Eye and Ashleigh Carter put into the beer are evident.

Another reason it landed at the top again: Brewers and industry pros love a good beer that allows you to drink more than one and isn’t overloaded with flavors.

“Favorite beers are often those that stand out for being huge or over the top. But for me, favorite means the beer I keep going back to drink,” says Jeff Nickel at AC Golden Brewing, who counts Bierstadt’s Helles as another of his top picks.

Industry experts expect more breweries move to easier-drinking beers, so maybe others will try to follow Bierstadt’s lead in craft lagers.

Readers’ pick: WeldWerks Brewing Medianoche stout series

It’s hard to get more than two people to agree on their favorite beer. So it’s no surprise that beer fans had trouble picking their favorite from WeldWerks Brewing’s Medianoche series. The Medianoche Reserve imperial stout released this year won the most shout-outs, but so did other variants with additional ingredients.

Medianoche took home a gold medal in the barrel-aged stout category at the Great American Beer Festival earlier this year. The other reader favorite beer — WeldWerks for its Juicy Bits series of hazy IPAs.

And there’s a good reason, brewer Troy Casey says. It aged on apricots for a month, then fresh nectarines and peaches for another month. “So it was basically double fruited,” he says. All Colorado ingredients, too.

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Neil Fischer, owner and head brewer at WeldWorks Brewing, pulls a sample of Juicy Bits, a very popular hazy IPA beer at the brewery June 29, 2016. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

Best Colorado brewery: WeldWerks Brewing

The prized GABF medal and plenty of new trend-setting beers made Weldwerks Brewing the Colorado brewery of the year, according to brewers and industry experts. Owner and head brewer Neil Fisher hits the high notes with hazy IPAs that showcase the flavors of the hops without the bitterness as well as barrel-aged stouts with a host of big flavors. The brewery’s beers are some of the most coveted in the nation among beer traders.

Fellow Greeley brewer Kyle Carbaugh at Wiley Roots sums it up: “Their meteoric rise seemed to catch a lot of people by surprise in 2016, but they’ve maintained a high-quality program throughout 2017, including a gold medal win at GABF in a very competitive category,” he adds. “They’re continually pushing boundaries on the pastry stout and hazy IPA categories, and I’m really looking forward to the barrel-aged offerings they have in store for 2018.”

Other expert favorites included Black Project Spontaneous and Wild Ales in Denver and Bierstadt Lagerhaus.

Readers’ pick: WeldWerks Brewing

The experts and readers agree in this category. WeldWerks was the runaway favorite brewery among craft beer fans in the survey. The brewery’s reach — and devotees — is expanding as it begins to distribute more 16-ounce cans of its beer to specialty bottle shops.

Editor’s pick: Black Project Spontaneous and Wild Ales

Black Project won brewery of the year in 2016 and only continued to push the boundaries this year with its Roswell series of fruited Lambic-style sours and an expansion of its barrel program. Owner and brewer James Howat even traveled to Belgium this year to negotiate an international beer treaty on how to label these old-world styles made to Méthode specifications.

A visit to Frisco’s Outer Range will make you wish it was in the Front Range. (Steve Maylone)

Best new Colorado brewery: Outer Range Brewing

The overwhelming winner for best new brewery is Outer Range, a newish brewery that opened in Frisco in 2016. The brewery only makes IPAs and Belgians, and really it’s the small batches of constantly evolving hazy IPAs that draws the most fans.

The hazy style is all the rage, but not all brewers can achieve the balance needed to make them work. “We choose them because of the New England Style IPA craze that has been sweeping the market, they came out of the gate swinging for the fences, while holding their own with those breweries at the top in that category,” says Hops & Pie owners Drew and Leah Watson.

Chris Marchio, the founder and head brewer at Knotted Root Brewing in Nederland, says Outer Range is quickly becoming a must-visit on the Colorado beer map. “They have begun to change the market in terms of expanding the Front Range beer scene into Summit County as a destination brewery,” he says. “I believe we’ll see more of this as the Denver and Boulder beer scene’s have become quite saturated.”

The runners-up in the category included New Terrain Brewing in Golden, Cellar West Artisan Ales in Boulder and Amalgam Brewing in Niwot.

Editor’s pick: New Image Brewing

New Image Brewing in Arvada is not a one-note wonder with its East Coast Transplant IPA. The brewery opened in 2016 but really made its presence known this year with full range of IPAs, stouts and other styles.

The portfolio includes a kombucha Brett saison called Dyad that is a fascinating mix of funky flavor and freshness tartness. And its blending collaboration with 4 Noses Brewing was one of the most unique partnerships of the year.

Beer sampler at New Terrain Brewing on July 19, 2017 in Golden. Brewmaster Josh Robbins brews a Colorado IPA called Lost which is a middle ground between West Coast IPAs and East Coast IPAs. (John Leyba, The Denver Post))

Colorado brewery to watch in 2018: New Terrain Brewing

New Terrain Brewing offers the best of both worlds in Colorado: quality beer with access to quality outdoor adventure. It’s location at the foot of Table Mountain and its Colorado IPA meet the needs. And the option to buy crowlers — 32-ounce cans the size of a half-growler — will help the beer travel and earn new fans.

“New Terrain is a very impressive newcomer with a wide array of top-quality beers and a spectacular place indoors and out,” says Marty Jones, a Denver-area beer marketer.

Editor’s pick: Cerebral Brewing

Cerebral Brewing in Denver began offering special releases of its top-notch beers this year — from hop-loaded IPAs, to decadent stouts to nuanced sours — and more goodness is expected in 2018. I’m looking forward to new barrel-aged beers and more collaborations with other top-notch breweries that counted as some of my favorites of the year.

Juicy Bits, a very popular hazy IPA beer, one of many beers at WeldWorks Brewing June 29, 2016. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

Most notable craft beer trend in 2017: The hazy IPA

A year ago, the hazy IPA stormed into Colorado. In 2017, it became a must-brew beer for many breweries in the state as demand only increased for more fruit-flavored IPAs without the bite.

“It was all about that haze in 2017,” says Sarah Haughey, the owner of The Jailhouse Craft Beer Bar in Buena Vista. “We didn’t just see hazy New England style IPA, but also pale ale and double IPA going this route as well.”

The beer represents a departure from the more hop-aggressive West Coast IPA styles and there’s debate about how long the trend will continue. So far it looks like it will only evolve as more breweries move into so-called milkshake IPAs brewed with oats, lactose and other adjunct ingredients.

Editor’s pick: Adjunct beers

The craft beer consumer is all about big flavors right now, but not necessarily the taste of beer. Brewers are adding all sorts of ingredients to their tanks, from traditional fruit and spices to more exotic adjuncts like cereal, candy bars and pies. Many stouts now resemble deserts or other foods than beer, giving rise to the terms milkshake IPA and pastry stouts.

Even though many industry pros see a back-to-basics reversal emerging, it sure seems like we still are just in the early stages of spiking beer with new flavors and adjunct ingredients.

Look for an uptick in brewery closures and consolidations in the new year as craft beer culture matures. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

Craft beer trend to watch in 2018: Closures and consolidation

Much like a year ago, when market pressures ranked at the top of brewers’ minds, the pros who answered the survey put a sharper point on the top industry issue for 2018: closures and consolidation.

“We’ll see more closures and sales in 2018 as the market continues to mature. It’s unfortunate for those that it affects, but it’s good for the overall market,” says Sean Buchan at Cerebral Brewing.

The issue began to emerge in 2017 with the merger of Strange Beer Co. and Wit’s End Brewing as a prime example. Nick Swingler, who works in sales and distribution at Denver Beer Co., says he expects more partnerships to develop in the next year. “It’s a pretty unique agreement that is a little outside the norm but should be beneficial for both of the breweries to survive, compete and thrive,” he adds. “Competition is only increasing and I think that finding ways to differentiate yourself from the group will become even more important.”

Editor’s pick: The $50 six-pack

Let’s face it, craft beer is expensive, but the prices are now becoming ridiculous. The idea of a $50 six-pack is probably in the near future, if it doesn’t already exist somewhere.

The demand for limited release beers — often available if you wait in line at the brewery — is pushing prices higher on the secondary beer-trading markets. So it’s hard to blame brewers for demanding more money when they see their beers going for double the cost online. But when is too much going to be too much for beer?